Author Archives: Hallmark Star Trek Ornaments

Kate Mulgrew on The Daily Show with Janeway Ornament

The Daily Show 
on Comedy Central
Hosted by Craig Kilborn 
November 17, 1998

Craig:  [William Shatner’s] got the big ego though. He thinks he’s special.

Kate:  He has been a starship captain. What do you expect?

Craig:  Are you one day going to have that enormous ego.

Kate:  No. I keep my ego in perspective. [makes face]

Craig:  Ok.

Kate:  ‘Cause I’m just a girl, right?

Craig:  I’ll tell you what, if I were you, what would expand your ego. This is real, this is a Christmas ornament of you at the helm. [brings out 1998 Janeway Hallmark ornament] Look at this. How do you stay grounded, I mean you’re a super star. This is beyond a doll. This is a Christmas ornament.

Kate:  No, but I think the logic behind this little device is extraor…it weighs fifty-eight pounds.

Craig:  It is.

Kate:  So, what does your Christmas tree look like, is the question.

Craig:  The one down in Rockefeller Center is the only one that could hold this.

Kate:  You wouldn’t wanna run into her in a dark alley, would ya?

Craig:  You look tough there. Is there any… Can this be a stocking stuffer as well? Or is it just an ornament.

Kate:  I’m sure you could…stuff it.

[audience laughter and applause]

Read the entire interview transcript with additional photos at Totally Kate: The Official Fansite of Kate Mulgrew.

Kate Mulgrew will return in the role of Hologram Janeway in Star Trek: Prodigy.

Resellers Overcharging for the Star Trek™ HMS Bounty Klingon™ Bird-of-Prey Metal Ornament

A word of warning not to buy/preorder the overpriced HMS Bounty that is showing up on eBay. The event exclusive ornament will be available to buy from home on July 23, 2021 at Noon E.S.T. and October 7, 2021 at Noon E.S.T. There will be a limited amount so be sure to log in early.

Updated photo 7/16/21. Went from two sellers to five sellers overnight.

HOW TO PURCHASE POPMINDED EXCLUSIVES

This year, we will offer event exclusives ONLINE ONLY in conjunction with the following events, typically attended in person: Comic-Con@Home, scheduled July 23-25, 2021, and New York Comic Con, scheduled October 7-10, 2021. Product allotments will be divided evenly between the two convention timeframes. Exclusives will be sold on a first-come basis starting at Noon Eastern Time (9 a.m. Pacific Time, 11 a.m. Central Time) on the first day of each convention.

Additionally, small quantities…will be allotted for sale to Keepsake Ornament Club Members. For more information on membership, go to hallmark.com/ornaments/keepsake-ornament-club.

For details on how to purchase exclusives, visit PopMinded.com/Events and expect the PopMinded convention shop to return in-person, to a full line-up of events in 2022.

For more information about PopMinded by Hallmark and the products offered, visit PopMinded.com.

Hallmark.com

Product Details

  • Designed by Jake Angell, this metal Keepsake Ornament comes pre-packaged in a box for easy gift giving, preservation and storage. Dated 2021 in copyright.
  • PopMinded™ event exclusive ornament and one of only 3,750 issued. Limited availability while supplies last, not available in stores.
  • Originally created for 2021 San Diego Comic-Con, New York Comic Con and select events.
  • Metal Christmas tree ornament measures 4.5″ W x 0.58″ H x 2.89″ D.

Artist Inspirations: Enterprise Stamp (1999)

Top: Date of issue: 17th September 1999.


Star Trek stamp illustrator, Keith Birdsong, also created the cover art for several Star Trek Pocket Books novels. Unfortunately, Birdsong passed away in 2019 at the age of 59.

It was a long journey to get the United States Postal Service to issue a Star Trek stamp. Star Trek fan, Bill Kraft, led the effort and captured it in his book, Maybe We Need a Letter from God: The Star Trek Stamp.

The drive to honor Star Trek on a U.S. postage stamp is unique. “Maybe We Need a Letter from God: The Star Trek Stamp” traces an old-fashioned grassroots movement, long before easy access to the speed of the Internet, that involved a strategy of signed petitions, endorsement letters and media exposure. Fueled by the spontaneous combustion of fan fervor, the Star Trek Stamp Committee embarked on a journey that took over a decade to complete. A dubious Citizens’ Stamp Advisory Committee, a bureaucratic “force field,” thwarted the Star Trek Stamp Committee’s efforts for 13 years. The book includes over eighty endorsement letters from some of the most renowned individuals in the worlds of science, science fiction and government, along with documentation from some of the nation’s leading newspapers such as “USA Today,” the “Los Angeles Times,” the “Chicago Sun Times,” and “Time Magazine.”

Artist Inspirations: Star Trek Gadgets

Top Left: Screen used tricorder. From the Paul G. Allen Collection at the Henry Museum.
Bottom Left: Episode image showing internals with door dropped down.
Middle Top and Bottom: The 2018 Hallmark tricorder.
Right: A much longer strap was used on the show so it could be positioned near the hip when hanging from the shoulder.


Left: From the Paul Allen collection at the Science Fiction Museum and Hall of Fame in Seattle, Washington.
Left: A midgrade hand phaser from TOS Set Decorator John Dwyer’s collection. Photo from Star Trek Prop Authority.

Star Trek Communicator Article, 1998

1998, Deep Space Nine and Voyager were on the air and Star Trek: Insurrection was in theaters. Hallmark had only released its 16th and 17th Star Trek ornaments and Kevin Dilmore interviewed longtime Hallmark Star Trek artists Anita Marra Rogers and Lynn Norton for Star Trek Communicator magazine. The magazine, a bimonthly publication of the Official Star Trek Fan Club, folded in 2005.

A big ‘thank you’ to the wonderful reader who sent me this article.

Star Trek Communicator, Issue 119 (October November 1998)

“It is Paramount’s criteria that the characters do not have a hook in any part of their bodies. Therefore, we have to incorporate a part of their environment with them as a vehicle to place the ornament hook.”

Anita Marra Rogers

Within two years Seven of Nine would have a hook driven into her cranium, a practice that continues with character ornaments to this day.

Top Left: An example of the “environment” that was required to avoid skewering a character’s body.
Top Right: In the early days, Hallmark would sometimes implement a ‘fish hook’ design which swept a hook over a character’s head.
Bottom Left: Seven of Nine’s head wound in 2000.
Bottom Right: Picard’s unfortunate hook placement in 2017 resembled some sort of torture device. “THERE ARE FOUR LIGHTS!”

Trekmovie.com Reviews Spock Storyteller Ornament

Veteran Hallmark artist Jake Angell has once again outdone himself with the design of “Mirror, Mirror” Spock.  Standing with his arms crossed, Spock is a handsome figure. The details—from his trademark beard to his medals and Terran Empire badge—are precise for such a small model. His gold sash hangs neatly over his left thigh and his dagger is at his right hip.

Christine Rideout, Trekmovie.com

Read the entire review and view ornament images at trekmovie.com.

Artist Inspirations: M’Ress (2018)

There are two images that have been found that closely resemble the Hallmark Keepsake. How each are related is a little fuzzy but it seems certain the inspiration for the 2018 Special Event M’Ress ornament originally came from an image from a March 1987 comic book entitled Who’s Who in Star Trek (below left). The ornament has substituted the board and pen/stylus for a tricorder.

A second image was found on a Wiki page (below middle) that looks almost identical to the ornament (below right), most notably in the face and ears and how it differs so much from the comic book. The Wiki image appears to have been copied from the Hallmark image and embellished with the tricorder strap, the addition of a seam and pleat in her uniform, larger tail and feet, and more detail in the sleeve fabric.

Left: Illustration from Who’s Who in Star Trek by Ken Penders & Romeo Tanghal, Source: Memory Beta
Middle: Source: Star Trek Timelines Wiki
Right: 2018 Hallmark M’Ress ornament.
Illiustration from Who’s Who In Star Trek Issue #1.
Page from Who’s Who In Star Trek Issue #1, 1987, DC Comics
Image from They Boldly Went

Personal Data
Name: M’Ress
Occupation: Communications Specialist
Marital Status: Single
Known Relatives: None
Group Affiliation: Starfleet
Base of Operations: U.S.S. Enterprise
First Appearance: “The Survivor”
Height: 6’ Weight 160 lbs
Eyes: Gold Hair: Orange
Current Status: Science Department, U.S.S. Enterprise

History
Communications Officer M’Ress is a Caitian, one of several felinoid civilizations know through the United Federation of Planets (see U.F.P.).

Caitians are approximately the height of human males. They are bipedal, with manes and hairy coverings that occur in various colors. M’Ress’ fur is orange and brown. Her eyes are golden, and look like that of a Terran cat.

Her voice is soft, with a purring sound that becomes more of a hissing when she is emotionally agitated.

M’Ress’ uniform does not include boots, as her paws are padded and do not require protective coverings.

M’Ress is usually selected for landing party duty on planets lacking bright light. Like all felinoids, she sees better in the dark than she dies in bright light.

M’Ress uses her long tail for a variety of purposes which include keeping her balance, sensing temperature changes (she has no whiskers), and sensing the vibrations of approaching individuals.

Her musculature gives M’Ress the strength of two average Terran males. Her disposition, however, is gentle, and she will only use her strength to defend herself or to protect other lives.

After serving aboard the Enterprise for over a year, M’Ress transferred back to the planet Cait, where she worked as a communications analyst (see Enterprise). Missing the adventure, M’Ress returned to Starfleet (see Starfleet) and requested assignment aboard the newly commissioned Enterprise.

Left: Issue #1 Andorians thru Dr. Mccoy.
Right: Issue #2 Marla McGivers thru Vulcans.

Artist Inspirations: Storytellers

Evil Spock in the Transporter room “welcoming” the away team.
Spock went from arms crossed to the Terran Empire’s salute. I’m glad they didn’t make the ornament based off the far right image.
Good Uhura just after shutting down Evil Sulu’s advances.
Evil Chekov in an attempted coup after disembarking the Turbolift with Kirk.
Left: Evil Sulu in a second attempted coup.
Right: The blade of the dagger is turned fat side out so you can see it from your couch when the ornament is hanging on the tree.
In the episode, “Mirror, Mirror”, Kirk is never seen in the power stance with arms akimbo like the ornament depicts (A). He can be seen most of the time in his space-cowboy-strutting position (B) and once in the I-found-a-new-woman-in-my-room pose (C) and once in his I’m-gonna-kick-bad-Sulu’s-butt position (D). Kirk is the only Storyteller of the five released so far that isn’t based on a screen image from the episode.